Determination of ecological vulnerability in Torghabeh-Shandiz Township using objective vulnerability method

Recent experiences on disregarding the environment and continuous development have caused human to conclude that the only way to protect nature in long-term is to pay attention to environmental abilities and limitations. One of the most actions taken in this regard in management and development planning is to determine ecosystem vulnerabilities. In this way، by identifying vulnerable and sensitive areas، one will be able to prevent developments beyond the ecological abilities. Torghabeh-Shandiz Township is one of the regions in Razavi Khorasan province that was under constant developments such as buildings، establishing new residential complexes (apartments and villas) during the recent years، mostly for tourism. The objective of this study is to determine and to classify the ecological vulnerability in this area using the “objective method”. For this، the region was transformed into 94 cells، 1600 ha each، and the vulnerability and classification of each cell were calculated based on different environmental gradients such as: slope، aspect، elevation، soil depth، vegetation density، climate، and geology. The results show that 19. 21% of the total area was vulnerable، 53. 35% sensitive، 18. 4 % susceptible، and 9. 28% of it was classified in resistant category